January Issue Brief: Teacher Compensation

Posted on January 20, 2015January 16, 2015 by coreeducation

Education reformers are working diligently to design new teacher performance-based compensation systems and career pathways that reward high-quality teaching and offer opportunities for advancement without leaving the classroom. In this month’s issue brief, we explore various resources, research reports, and ideas related to teacher compensation to provide food for thought about this important topic. How Read more about January Issue Brief: Teacher Compensation[…]

The Equity Project: Does Paying Teachers $125,000 Make a Difference?

Posted on December 8, 2014November 29, 2014 by coreeducation

The Equity Project Charter School in New York City is well known for the salary it pays its teachers — $125,000 of public funds available to all public charter schools. The question of course is what that sort of salary for teachers can accomplish. In a new study, Mathematica describes The Equity Project (TEP) charter Read more about The Equity Project: Does Paying Teachers $125,000 Make a Difference?[…]

Rebalancing Teacher Tenure

Posted on October 30, 2014October 25, 2014 by coreeducation

Nearly everyone agrees that all students deserve a quality education, and that teachers deserve reasonable job protections. But Vergara v. California threw a spotlight on a hard truth: The balance has swung too far toward job protections for adults, at the expense of the rights of children. Tenure doesn’t have to be all-or-nothing. TNTP believes Read more about Rebalancing Teacher Tenure[…]

School Climate Change

Posted on October 24, 2014March 3, 2020 by coreeducation

According to a new Alliance for Excellent Education report, supporting great teaching is key to a positive school climate and academic success for at-risk students. With schools implementing higher academic standards that require engaging and effective teaching, a new report from the Alliance for Excellent Education in partnership with the National Opportunity to Learn Campaign Read more about School Climate Change[…]

TFA Responds to Increased Scrutiny

Posted on October 15, 2014September 12, 2020 by coreeducation

A small group of Harvard students, backed by a national grass-roots student organization, has taken a very public stand against Teach for America. In a letter last month, they urged President Drew Faust to block TFA from recruiting on campus unless the group makes major changes – including repudiating key corporate sponsors and pledging to Read more about TFA Responds to Increased Scrutiny[…]

Infographic: Climbing the Career Ladder in Baltimore

Posted on September 23, 2014September 12, 2020 by coreeducation

There has been much talk in recent years about new incentive-based pay scales for teachers, but often the talk lacks the details to turn the talk into reality. But Baltimore City Public Schools (MD) has created a new pay ladder, and Education Week has published an interesting infographic with the details. The official name of Read more about Infographic: Climbing the Career Ladder in Baltimore[…]

U.S. Department of Education: Commit to Lead

Posted on September 17, 2014September 13, 2014 by coreeducation

The Education Department announced a new opportunity to advance teacher leadership. But, for it to succeed, The Department needs your voice to be a part of it. Commit to Lead is a public, online community that directly engages teachers and other educators in defining what teacher leadership can and should be in their communities. The Read more about U.S. Department of Education: Commit to Lead[…]

To Close the Achievement Gap, We Need to Close the Teaching Gap

Posted on September 11, 2014September 5, 2014 by coreeducation

Linda Darling-Hammond sees the recent PISA and TALIS results as a strong indictment of the direction of American education over the last two decades. Her answer, as she explains in an article for the Huffington Post Education, is to focus on teachers. Below is an excerpt from the article: For years now, educators have looked Read more about To Close the Achievement Gap, We Need to Close the Teaching Gap[…]

Shortchanged: The Hidden Cost of Lockstep Teacher Pay

Posted on August 29, 2014August 24, 2014 by coreeducation

This new report from TNTP analyzes the impact of lockstep compensation systems, which pay teachers almost exclusively based on years of experience and academic credits, and proposes paying teachers for what really matters: how hard their jobs are and how well they do them. The report shows that paying teachers without regard for their actual Read more about Shortchanged: The Hidden Cost of Lockstep Teacher Pay[…]

Improving the Effectiveness of Beginning Teachers

Posted on August 28, 2014August 28, 2014 by coreeducation

The Alliance for Excellent Education has released a new webinar and report on Improving the Effectiveness of Beginning Teachers. Webinar: Improving the Effectiveness of Beginning Teachers This webinar highlighted current trends in the teaching workforce, the research on induction programs, and a systems approach to creating supportive teaching and learning conditions. In conjunction with the Read more about Improving the Effectiveness of Beginning Teachers[…]

Teachers feel satisfied yet underappreciated

Posted on August 26, 2014August 24, 2014 by coreeducation

An often-cited educational utopia is Finland, but even there, a new study finds, only 58.6% of teachers said they felt properly appreciated. The new study is from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and is entitled the “Teaching and Learning International Survey”. It questioned more than 100,000 lower secondary school teachers and about 6,500 Read more about Teachers feel satisfied yet underappreciated[…]

August Issue Brief: Teacher Compensation

Posted on August 25, 2014August 24, 2014 by coreeducation

Education reformers are working diligently to design new teacher compensation systems and career pathways that reward high-quality teaching, equitably distribute effective teachers, and offer opportunities for advancement without leaving the classroom. In this month’s issue brief, we explore various resources, research reports, and ideas related to teacher compensation to provide food for thought about this Read more about August Issue Brief: Teacher Compensation[…]

Bonuses for High Performing Teachers in the Worst Schools?

Posted on August 11, 2014August 9, 2014 by coreeducation

Vanderbilt University has recently put out a new study on teacher retention, which examined a Tennessee program that offered high-performing teachers in the state’s worst schools a $5,000 bonus to stay on another year. The program was fairly small and implementation was uneven, but researchers still found preliminary evidence of a positive effect. Middle schools Read more about Bonuses for High Performing Teachers in the Worst Schools?[…]

Who Owns Teacher-Created Content?

Posted on August 5, 2014August 2, 2014 by coreeducation

The State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA), in partnership with Creative Commons U.S., recently released a policy brief for state and district education leaders focused on strategies for equipping educators to effectively and legally navigate the use of digital content. The brief, Clarifying Ownership of Teacher-Created Digital Content Empowers Educators to Personalize Education, Address Individual Read more about Who Owns Teacher-Created Content?[…]

Conserving Principal and Teacher Talent

Posted on August 4, 2014August 2, 2014 by coreeducation

At The Lens, part of the Center on Reinventing Public Education, Paul Hill offers a model for finding existing star performers in underperforming urban school districts. Every school district has teachers and administrators who are part of the problem but also teachers and administrators who are already or are very willing to be part of Read more about Conserving Principal and Teacher Talent[…]